Unwind for the holidays

How to prepare the planning of your wedding for the new year and still be able to enjoy the holiday season

As we all have seen, the holiday season is swiftly approaching. Dreaded by some, much looked forward to by others. When you’re busy planning your wedding, planning for the holidays is just another thing to add to your long list of things to do. So how do you go about planning your wedding in this busy period while still being able to enjoy the time you can spend with your family and loved ones? Well, it might be easier than you might think.

When you’ve just started…

You’re just engaged, congrats! It’s definitely one of the nicest moments in life so enjoy this wonderful engagement bliss as long as you can!

Chances are, you are not overwhelmed yet by all the things that need to get done. You might feel like you can take on the world right now, and that’s the feeling you need to have to get through this first stage, the planning stage. A stage often forgotten by newly-engageds (yes, I know that’s not a word). But with this post to guide you, you will nail this!

PREPARE. IN. DETAIL.

Let’s repeat that. Prepare in detail! When your preparation is well thought out, you’re halfway already. Having a good foundation to base the rest of your planning on is key in the beginning stages of planning your wedding. So how should you go about that?

Check how many months you have until the wedding, starting from January 2nd. Trust me, on January 1st you will not be able to kick off yet… This will also allow you to keep the holiday season free of wedding planning stress.

Next, check out a wedding checklist. You can find these in magazines, on wedding blogs, and right below this paragraph you can find my shortened planning checklist.

When you have found a wedding checklist, start tailoring to your planned vacations, any holidays you celebrate, any projects that will take up too much of your time and start putting in deadlines on dates that feel realistic for you. A professional wedding planner or wedding consultant can always help you to tailor your planning.

When you have gone through the steps above, you can be sure that you have taken the necessary steps to begin planning your wedding stress-free in January. So now, let it go for a while, relax and enjoy the time spent with your family and loved ones. Make sure to schedule some time with your fiancé for just the two of you, so you can keep hold of this engagement bliss just a little bit longer.

When you’re right in the middle…

You’re in the heat of the moment, planning away and booking those vendors and that pretty venue, but now the holiday season is coming up and it’s upsetting you’re planning balance… Time to slow down again and take some steps to make sure you can unwind before the holidays so you can enjoy the time you have with your family and loved ones.

Take some time to go over your planning checklist. Check which actions have been completed, which are urgent and which can wait until after the holidays.

Go over your urgent tasks in more detail. Are they things you can work on yourself? Or do you need to follow up with other people? Create a planning for yourself for the remaining days before the holidays and see which ones you can still get done. The others, how urgent they may seem, try to push them back to January so you can create some peace of mind for the holidays.

Start planning the rest of your tasks for 2017 by scheduling the urgent tasks that you had to push first, and then continuing with the other tasks right up until your wedding day. This is also a good time to revise your initial planning and check if everything is still going according to plan. If not, revise your planning and make sure you plan in some breathing periods to give yourself some rest every once in a while.

If possible, try giving yourself a 2-week window for everything to be finished before your wedding day so you can give yourself time in case something needs to be fixed last minute. Also, you can use these 2 weeks to go over the appointments you made with your vendors so they can confirm every detail of your wedding.

With your planning for 2017 all planned out, and your urgent tasks scheduled in before the holidays, you will be ready to unwind just in time. Try to take your mind off your wedding for a while and really relax surrounded by your family and loved ones.

When you’re counting down to the big day…

When you are planning a Christmas, New Year or winter wedding, you will be adding the finishing touches to your planning now. I wish I could ease your mind like I have in these past stages, but to be honest you’re now in the final stages and things NEED to be finished now. So instead of giving you some much needed relax-time, I will give you some tips on how to prepare your wedding day in those final stages so you can be sure you have taken the time to prepare your wedding day as well as you can.

Go over your wedding planning checklist. Lots of things overdue that needed to be done already? Try getting your Maid Of Honour and bridesmaids, and heck maybe even your mom and sisters and cousins, involved so they can help you tackle those last few things. It’s a nice time to remember you don’t need to do everything by yourself. Also ask your fiancé to help out when possible.

Have some DIY projects scheduled for the last two weeks? If you’re still busy with some of the final touches of your planning, leave the DIY! Either ask some of your more creative friends or family members to take over, or just do something else instead. Last-minute DIY projects will only add to your stress-level and that is the last thing you could use at this stage.

About 6 to 2 weeks before your wedding, you should get in touch with your wedding vendors and ask them to confirm the details you have discussed. Make sure to check the final contract again to make sure they are confirming every single detail you have ever asked for so you do not get any unnecessary surprises on your big day.

Spend your last day alone with your fiancé, try to schedule in some relax time, and try to let go of the things that you are worrying about. Your wedding day will be a success, no matter what, because in the end you are marrying the one who makes your heart soar!

With these tips, you will be fully prepared for the holiday season. Make sure to switch off the eternal whirlwind that we often find ourselves in, and surround yourself with family and loved ones to refill your energy level.

Do you have a special slow-down ritual for the holidays? Share it in the comments below!